On October 31 in Shibuya, before seven, the crowd was already beginning to fill the streets in front of the crossing. Although it hadn't yet reached the overflowing point of later in the night, the constant flow of people in costumes made the corners look packed.
Neon signs and giant screens lit up above people's heads, projecting ads that competed with one another in intense colors and blaring music. Some included promotions with pumpkins or Halloween-themed images.
At the crossing, when the traffic light turned green, the giant screens surrounding the intersection synchronized, showing glowing pumpkins and animated bats fluttering around.
Three girls dressed as little devils pulled each other's arms so they wouldn't get lost, while the glow sticks they waved left green and pink trails in the air.
Their laughter was clearer than the shouts from the izakayas on the street.
A young man made up as a zombie suddenly approached a couple, and when he was shoved away with laughter, he exaggerated his act with a deep growl…
That was Halloween night in Shibuya: chaotic, noisy, with costumes everywhere and the air filled with the smell of food.
"Tch…"
Damian was pushed against the railing of the crossing by the pressure of the crowd, and in that instant he looked down at the figure sheltering in his arms.
Marin was gripping the sleeve of his shirt tightly, afraid of getting lost in the crowd, and stretched up on her tiptoes to look over the shoulders surrounding them.
Behind her, the small devil's tail that was part of her costume moved unintentionally, brushing softly against the back of his hand, a detail that drew a brief smile from him.
Tonight she had decided to stand out more than usual.
She had dyed her hair a deep wine red. A black off-shoulder top, accented with delicate white lace at the neckline, stood out boldly against her fair skin, while the tight dark leather pants clung to her legs, tracing curves that caught glances every time she moved through the crowd.
Suddenly, her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Look, they're selling candied apples over there!" she exclaimed, pointing toward a stall on the corner.
Without realizing it, she gave a little hop of excitement, and the black devil horns on her head almost bumped into a man dressed as a wizard who passed by her side. She barely noticed, too caught up in her excitement.
"Last year I missed out on trying the ones with strawberry sauce! This year I'm not missing them for anything."
Damian took advantage of the movement of the crowd to grab her wrist, and in the brush of his fingers he touched the small bell on the bracelet Marin was wearing, an ornament that jingled softly every time she walked and that she had very intentionally chosen for tonight.
"Don't jump so much, if we just move a little further we'll get there," he said, leaning toward her, because the height difference was so great he had to lower his head to look her in the eyes.
The surrounding clamor suddenly broke with a chorus of whistles and laughter.
A few meters away, a group of boys dressed in knight armor watched them in amusement. One lifted his phone to take pictures, "What a great couple you make!"
"!"
Marin blushed instantly, but instead of pulling away, she nestled even closer against Damian's chest, slid her hand up to his neck and, lifting her head, looked him directly in the eyes with a playful smile.
"They're complimenting my good taste," she murmured with confidence…
Before Damian could respond, the light turned green and the crowd surged forward all at once.
The human tide dragged them along, and Damian instinctively pulled her against him, raising his arm to push aside a man who nearly shoved into them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a bright projection on the huge screen at Shibuya Scramble: the promotional poster for a Devil May Cry concert.
He immediately recognized the silhouette of the white hair and the neon-lit electric guitar, an image from last week's performance.
"Look over there!" Marin tugged lightly on his sleeve to make him follow her gaze and, without warning, rose up on her tiptoes and left a quick kiss on his chin. "Next time you have a concert, don't you dare go onstage without a shirt."
Damian barely opened his mouth to reply, but she had already pulled him back into the crowd.
…
Barely past seven, Shibuya was more alive than ever. Marin, with one hand busy holding a steaming cup of oden, speared a piece of radish so tender it was falling apart from being cooked and lifted it to Damian's lips.
"Aaah… open your mouth."
Damian accepted without protest, biting into it while she laughed at seeing him cooperate. In return, he offered her a piece of fish cake soaked in broth, and she tasted it delighted, her cheeks still flushed from the excitement of the night.
All around them, the crowd never stopped pushing and moving forward.
Every so often someone in costume would burst through the people, laughing and shouting as if there were no tomorrow.
!
Out of nowhere, Damian went rigid and the smile on his face vanished.
He quickly lifted his head a little, his gaze fixed on the sky.
Marin noticed his stiffness and, not understanding what was happening, looked at him in surprise.
"Damian-kun, what's wrong?" she asked, raising her eyes to try to follow his gaze.
But all she could make out were the lights flashing over the buildings and the animation… Everything seemed normal, like always on a Halloween night.
However, Damian's eyes saw a completely different sky.
The night sky had transformed into a corrupted canvas, where countless black stains emerged like drops of ink spilling into water.
At first they were just a few, scattered and small, but in a matter of seconds they began multiplying and expanding, sliding quickly in all directions, growing with time, as if they wanted to swallow all of Shibuya.
The most disturbing thing was the contrast.
People kept laughing, buying candied apples, raising beer cups, and so on. But no one seemed to notice what was happening right above their heads.
His brow furrowed and a cold unease ran through his body.
'What the hell is this?… Just looking at it makes my skin crawl.'
The feeling was as sharp as it was chilling; he couldn't take his eyes off the sky, and inside him echoed a disturbing thought.
"Damian-kun?"
Marin's voice sounded through the clamor, and her fingers, still warm from the oden, brushed softly against his cheek.
She touched him gently, wanting to pull him out of the strange trance he seemed to be sinking into. "You've been acting strange for a while… what are you looking at?"
!
Damian blinked as if returning to reality.
His eyes lowered toward her, and without thinking he held her wrist firmly. He forced a smile and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, trying to calm her.
"Nothing…" he murmured, "must be that the light dazzled me."
But even as he said those words, his gaze lifted again.
To his eyes, the sky was no longer the same: the black stain had spread completely, and the lights surrounding Shibuya now seemed drenched in ink, dimmed into a lifeless gray.
Even the huge screen on the building looked covered by an invisible layer of dust, and the Halloween animations barely kept their color… as if they were about to vanish.
"?"
Marin watched him closely, following the tension in his jaw, the faint furrow of his brow, and quickly leaned toward him.
Her warm breath brushed his ear when she whispered softly, making his skin tingle, "If you keep spacing out… the new succubus outfit will only be enjoyed by me alone…"
!
Damian's fingers stopped for an instant, and when he turned his head, he found himself face-to-face with the reddened lobe of her ear, so close he could feel the heat of her skin.
Around them, everything remained the same, but amid the noise and clamor, he caught a different scent: a faint metallic aroma that had nothing to do with food.
"I know," he answered in a low voice, squeezing her hand a little tighter. Without leaving room for doubt, he began to guide her out of the crowd. "First let's buy that candied apple. Didn't you say you wanted it with strawberry sauce?"
"Mmm."
Marin's eyes sparkled instantly, and a satisfied smile curved her lips.
She took advantage of the moment to cling tightly to his arm, trapping it between her breasts as she followed him through the sea of people.
They moved slowly, carried by the crowd, and Damian calmly pushed aside those who blocked their way.
Meanwhile, Marin brought a half-eaten candied apple to his lips.
Nearby, a boy dressed in a wizard's robe argued with his friend over cotton candy that was dissolving in the air, while a girl made up as a zombie raised her glow stick to take selfies with her friends.
The clamor mixed with the sweet aroma of candied chestnuts, and that mundane contrast managed, for a moment, to pull Damian away from the unsettling vision of the blackened sky that had been tormenting him.
When the bags in their hands were already full of Halloween sweets and food, the clock had silently passed eight-thirty.
Damian carried them effortlessly, holding them with one hand, while the other remained firmly intertwined with Marin's, who didn't seem to want to let go of him at any moment.
"We should go home already, shouldn't we?" she asked, lifting her head to look at him. "If we take any longer, we won't catch the subway."
He lowered his gaze, and his hair hid his eyes for an instant, which gleamed with a strange light. He barely managed to respond with a faint "Mm" when once again he stopped abruptly.
!
In front of him, the neon sign of a building flickered with a blinding intensity, bathing the street in a light that drew a murmur of surprise from the people around.
At that very moment, a girl dressed as a maid came running out of the entrance with a pumpkin lantern in her hands and almost collided with his chest before hurriedly swerving aside.
"..."
But Damian's eyes weren't on her.
His attention was locked on what he had just seen: a white shadow had crossed in front of him like lightning.
The silhouette was so fast it seemed blurred, but not enough to go unnoticed.
A streak of white hair shone in the darkness, and for a second, the profile of a face was lit up by the streetlamps of the avenue, revealing a black bandage that covered the eyes.
Damian's fingers clenched with such force that the handles of the bags deformed.
The warmth of Marin's body was still at his side, clinging to his arm, but his nerves had tightened all at once.
"What's wrong?" Marin asked, following the direction of his gaze.
But all she could make out was the reflection of the crowd in the glass wall of the building. She turned slightly toward him and, seeing nothing unusual, added doubtfully, "Are you tired?"
Damian didn't answer.
His eyes stayed fixed on the exact point where that white silhouette had disappeared, as if everything else had ceased to exist.
Under the sky that to his eyes stretched like a black dome, the lights of Shibuya kept flickering as usual, but the air around them was imbued with a strange current, like a wind that didn't belong to that place and that still vibrated with the energy that figure had left behind.
He knew that figure…
It was so familiar to him that his mind recognized it instantly. He had seen it before coming to this world, had talked about it, even criticized it countless times. And yet, there it was…
Why? he thought, frowning. Wasn't it supposed to be only romance mangas?... why is that guy here too…?
Marin, not understanding anything, clearly noticed how Damian's arm tensed. The expression on his face hardened, and the stare he kept fixed straight ahead grew so cold it made her heart skip a beat.
"Da…Damian-kun?" she spoke shakily, and shook his arm harder, "What's wrong with you?! Earlier you were staring at the sky, and now again…"
She rose on her tiptoes toward him, searching in his eyes for some clue, trying to discover what had him so disturbed.
But all she could see was the reflection of the lights, the chaos of Shibuya pulsing on the surface of his pupils.
!
The anxious tone in her voice brought him back.
Damian lowered his head and found her face lifted toward him, as beautiful as it was uneasy, marked by a sincere expression of concern.
…Yes, in front of her he had always acted the same: lazy, relaxed, as if nothing could matter too much.
Even if the world collapsed, it was enough for him to have her close to keep up that carefree façade.
Maybe that was why the sudden seriousness that had slipped out of him a moment ago must have scared her more than it should have…
Feeling the tension in his nerves slowly loosen, a natural smile drew across his lips, and he raised his hand to gently ruffle the top of her hair.
"It's nothing," he finally said, with his voice once again wrapped in that lazy, soothing tone he always used with her. "I was just thinking…"
He left the sentence unfinished on purpose, and under Marin's attentive and confused gaze, he added calmly, "…that from now on we won't be able to go back by subway."
"Eh?!"
Marin froze for a second, until suddenly she burst into carefree laughter that dispelled the previous tension.
The worry from a moment ago seemed to have evaporated as if it had never existed. "What are you saying? Why not? Then… how are we going to go back? On foot? Our house is really far from Shibuya!"
Damian gazed at Marin's face, lit up by a radiant smile that seemed to drive away any shadow around her.
The warmth of that expression made his own lips curve a little more, and in his eyes appeared a shade of tenderness.
He leaned toward her slowly, close enough for his breath to brush her ear, and lowered his voice, tinting it with an air of mystery, "The subway is too slow. Besides…"
He stopped again on purpose, while his gaze slid over the crowd that kept celebrating, oblivious to everything, and finished calmly, "…now it's not very safe to walk here either."
?
Marin blinked, completely lost in his words, unable to connect the threads of what he was saying. "So… what do we do?"
Damian straightened, and the smile that formed on his lips felt strangely familiar to her.
It was the same one she had always seen on him onstage: arrogant and full of pure confidence. The multicolored lights reflected on his face, scattering sparks that wrapped him in an almost unreal aura, identical to that of the idol they called "Nero."
Then he lowered his gaze and locked it on Marin's eyes, trapping her in direct contact that made everything around them seem to fade away.
And he spoke with a certainty that left no room for hesitation, "I'm going to show you a secret."